The lawsuit filed on October 26 against Merrick Garland to “end federal cannabis prohibition” wouldn’t really end federal cannabis prohibition. If you had that impression, it may be because reporting on this topic has been subpar. Many of the headlines are incomplete or downright misleading. Some stories take several paragraphs to explain the actual nature of the challenge, and some don’t get to it at all. Here are some prominent examples:
Here’s the deal. Even if the plaintiffs prevail on all counts – and I hope they do!– the Controlled Substances Act would remain intact entirely. It would still be illegal to ship a single gram of marijuana from New York to New Jersey, from California to Oregon, or from Michigan to Minnesota. Or from anywhere to Canada. The focus of this lawsuit, instead, is application of the federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) to intrastate – and not interstate — marijuana activity and actors. A victory would help cannabis operators who are drawing within the lines, as long as they stay within those lines. It would help them enormously, in fact.
But how do I know the lawsuit wouldn’t actually end prohibition? Here I must confess I haven’t actually read
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